This summer, we're taking a look through the rear-view mirror at childhood—and, in the process, examining how it shapes us into our adult selves. The writers featured in Creative Nonfiction #60 recount formative childhood experiences that leave indelible memories: stomping through a snowstorm to Sunday mass; discovering a dead body in the woods; touring beautiful homes they’ll never live in; or trying, desperately, to dance their way to junior high popularity. Here we have kid-dom in all its messy glory: the good, the bad, and the biting truth.

Plus, fifteen contemporary nonfiction authors discuss the books that made them writers; how to write about your kids without messing them up (too much); the link between addiction memoirs and coming-of-age stories; Tiny Truths; and more.